Mapping luxury shopping around the world

A woman exits the Louis Vuitton shop on New Bond Street in London
Reuters/Luke MacGregor

Luxury shopping in crisis-hit Europe has become a multicultural experience as high-end brands woo customers from Asia and Russia, with shop assistants in London and Paris being encouraged to learn Mandarin and Russian. Europe's luxury retailers are also setting up shop in countries in the global south to meet demand from the growing middle classes. In a five part series of reports, RFI maps luxury shopping trends in Cape Town, Lagos, London, Moscow and Paris.

Increasing numbers of people in Britain are relying on food banks and struggling to pay their energy bills. But as Jeff Semple reports from London, while British families cut back, spending on luxury goods is on the rise, thanks to an increase in international shoppers.

Tourism in the South African coastal city of Cape Town peaks in December. The country's super-rich, Africa's elites and celebrities from around descend on their holiday homes in the city. And as Davison Mudzingwa reports, shops selling luxury goods do a roaring trade.

Russia has the world’s highest concentration of billionaires, but the desire for branded luxury goes beyond the wealth. Thomas Lowe reports from Moscow, where authorities recently made a surprise decision to remove a big Louis Vuitton advertisement in Red Square.

For the 60 million Christians in Nigeria, Christmas is a time to flaunt wealth - if you have it. Eighty per cent of Nigerians live on less than 1.50 euros a day, but as Sam Olukoya reports, there are others who can afford to buy crates of champagne and fast cars for Christmas.

As consumers of luxury products become increasingly international, France remains the world's top producer of what people want to buy. Seven of the world's top 15 luxury brands are French, led by LVMH. Sarah Elzas looks at how the country is adapting to the new luxury market.